There are many reasons why members of the CSCW community cannot, or choose not to, attend CSCW in person. These include visa challenges, geopolitical dynamics, environmental impact of travel, cost of travel, family responsibilities, and many, many others. All of these reasons make it necessary to accommodate online participation in a capacity that is rewarding for conference attendees, while also feasible and sustainable for conference organizers. CSCW 2025 will feature key changes to the hybrid format from previous years. These changes were informed by prior experiences of those who organized and participated in previous editions of the hybrid format at CSCW and related conferences.

TL;DR: We will hold an online-only, one-day pre-conference event prior to the in-person conference dates to mitigate technical challenges and support innovative presentation formats and audience engagement. During this event, those who cannot attend the in-person conference will have the opportunity to present their papers. Everyone who has registered for the conference (online or in-person) will be able to attend this event.

When: The hybrid event will be split into three sessions spanning October 9-11, 2025, to accommodate attendees in different time zones. Each session will last between 2 and 4 hours, with at least two of the sessions occurring during times when most people are awake in a given time zone. See the table below for a tentative schedule.

VancouverBergenSydney
Session 19 Oct 2025
14:00 – 15:30
15:30 – 16:00 break
16:00 – 17:30		9 Oct 2025
23:00 – 23:30
23:30 – 00:00 break
00:00 – 01:00		10 Oct 2025
08:00 – 09:30
09:30 – 10:00 break
10:00 – 11:30
Session 29 Oct 2025
23:00 – 23:30
23:30 – 00:00 break
00:00 – 01:00		10 Oct 2025
08:00 – 09:30
09:30 – 10:00 break
10:00 – 11:30		10 Oct 2025
17:00 – 18:30
18:30 – 19:00 break
19:00 – 20:30
Session 310 Oct 2025
08:00 – 09:30
09:30 – 10:00 break
10:00 – 11:30		10 Oct 2025
17:00 – 18:30
18:30 – 19:00 break
19:00 – 20:30		11 Oct 2025
01:00 – 02:30
02:30 – 03:00 break
03:00 – 04:30

Cost: Online-only registration will cost US$325 for ACM members, US$375 for non-members, and US$175 for students. Online-only attendees will have access to the online pre-conference, the conference livestream of the main room (keynotes, town hall, panels), and access to the conference Discord or other communication channels.

Key changes to the hybrid format for paper presentations:

  • Authors will have the option to present their paper online at the pre-conference event.
  • Presentations from online paper presenters will occur on a separate day from the physical conference, scheduled far enough away from the in-person dates so as not to impact travel plans for those attending the in-person conference.
  • Online presentations will be live, not pre-recorded.
  • The presentation length and format for online paper presentations is still being finalized, with the goal of experimenting with new forms of presentation that improve audience engagement. We are keen to provide a transparent social context for the presentations, so that people presenting are not alienated from their audience. Authors and audience members can expect a unique experience compared to traditional in-person presentations.
  • Those attending just the online day will have a reduced conference registration cost. Those who purchase the full in-person conference registration will also be able to attend the online day.

What is and isn’t online

  • The aforementioned online presentation option applies specifically to the papers track (those published in PACM HCI). Presenters for other types of work (e.g., posters, panels, doctoral consortium, workshops) should assume an in-person-only format unless otherwise explicitly stated by the chairs or organizers of the respective track.
  • The only sessions during the in-person conference days that will be livestreamed for online attendees will be those that occur in the main conference hall. These include the opening and closing keynote, panels, and the town hall. 

Why were these changes made

There were three factors driving changes in the hybrid format for CSCW 2025: cost of livestreaming, technical difficulties with livestreaming, and relative enjoyment and utilization of hybrid conference registration. Costs for supporting livestreaming at the conference venue have simply become cost-prohibitive. In addition, we have repeatedly heard about (and experienced) technical difficulties with livestreamed sessions at previous editions of CSCW and related conferences that impacted paper presentations and audience engagement. This often results in an inferior conference experience for online attendees, marred by challenges with interacting with paper presenters and other attendees, and more generally with feeling a sense of community that CSCW is known for. Perhaps as a consequence, utilization of hybrid conference registrations (i.e., online attendance at livestreamed in-person paper sessions) has been consistently low.

What is still being finalized about the CSCW 2025 hybrid format

  • The precise day for online presentations and the precise time(s) when online presentations will occur. We plan to hold the online event during the first half of October with sessions broken up across 24 hours to accommodate presenters and attendees in different time zones.
  • The precise length and format of online paper presentations.
  • The precise cost of online conference registration. The cost will be significantly lower than the registration cost for in-person attendees.
  • Which papers will be presented online (authors can expect an email inquiring about this as we get closer to the conference date).

When will those things be finalized:

Once the October 2024 cycle papers have been finalized, we will reach out to authors of accepted papers to determine whether they will present in person or online. Based on the number of people who choose to present online, we will finalize the format and length guidelines for online presentations. 

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